Not as far as I can tell. They certainly don’t sucker although they are easy to propagate by layering. The honeyberries being sold in nurseries have been bred from wild varieties. It would seem that the breeding has focused on improving fruit taste and increasing fruit size. Bob Bors of the University of Saskatchewan who has been breeding using the honeyberry varieties that you mention has stated that:

With many invasive weeds challenging farmers around the world, a major concern in any new crops is whether it could become invasive. Having searched and found about 800 wild Haskap plants across Canada in every province except BC..its not there), I can say emphatically that it has never been a dominant plant in any location. There are other, non-edible Honeysuckle species that are rather aggressive but not Haskap

In another more recent article he says:

Unlike several invasive Lonicera species, this species occupies a narrow ecological niche. Thus far wehave found the species on the edges of wetlands and in climax forest areas where deciduous trees are doing poorly but with high organic matter. Although I have seen it in the wild in 35 locations, I have never seen it as the dominant species. Often there are only a handful of plants at any location. It is also reported to exist on mountains above the tree line. Climate change could put these habitats at risk. This project will not only allow sampling and preserving of some of the diversity of this species, but it will identify areas in the wild for future study.

There is also the possibility that this species might thrive under conditions of global warming. It is tolerant of wet conditions but is also reported to be drought tolerant. Accessions from Siberia when grown in Saskatchewan, bloom during freezing conditions in late May and April (the flowers are frost tolerant). But they ripen in early June and start going dormant in July. While this dormancy may be characteristic of short growing seasons in the far north, it may also allow plants to persist during unfavorable hot dry conditions in late summer. Accessions from the Asian Pacific rim bloom as much as 3 weeks later in our
location and do not go dormant until fall. It is hypothesized that the Canadian Lonicera caerulea will have diversity in timing of blooming, fruiting and dormancy according to geographic location. In Saskatchewan and Manitoba this species blooms in early to mid-May and likely fruits in Mid June. We have been told (but not seen for ourselves) that it fruits in August in the mountains of southern Alberta and in Eastern Quebec. Wild plants from the Yukon but growing in Alberta fruit in July.

Interestingly in the second article, he shows a picture of the native variety growing in a disturbance zone near a road. Invasive species often become invasive species when they find man-made disturbed habitat. They seem to get a toehold in these species vacuums. So it’s possible that honeyberries which are not invasive in their own habitat might go wild in man-made disturbed habitat of which there is an endless supply. Having said that honeyberries were first introduced in North America back in the early to mid 90s and there doesn’t seem to be any commentary yet after more than 15 years about their being invasive. The birds love them and birds are great seed distributors. Usually seeds passing through animal digestive systems germinate easily but maybe honeyberries don’t.

If you really want to hedge your bets, net the bushes and share no berries with the birds.

Thanks for all of the useful information, it really helped a lot. It can be quite hard to find information on these plants so I was very happy to find this site and be able to post my question. Thanks again.
-Bethany

Hello,
I have ordered a blue moon, blue velvet, wild honey, and honeysweet honeyberry and upon reading the planting instructions I have been getting conflicting information. From some sources it says to plant them in full sun and in others it says to plant in partial sun. Could you help clear up the confusion? I live in zone 5. Thank you so much for your help.

Lots of great info here in your site, thanks for that! I have just gifted two different varieties of Blue Honeysuckle (in hopes of having some successful cross-polination) to a friend. They are now wondering if it\’s possible to pot them for the long term. Is this recommended, or will they have problems with the health of the plants and production of fruits? If it is possible to pot them what would be ideal size pots for them? Thanks for your help!

We just dug up and moved two 4 year old plants in order to replace them with a new variety of pollinator. The root systems were LARGE, reaching out at least 3 feet in radius from the main stem. Having said that, I’ve had cuttings of plants in small 6″ pots produce a few flowers. If your friend is going to pot them up, I’d say use the largest pot manageable and see what happens.

They don’t look like serviceberry (amelanchier) to me. Those have bloom remains at the bottom of the berries, while the berries she uploaded do not. The leaves also seem to have a much different thicker, stiffer texture, although the leaf shape is similar.

I don’t think that you’ll find anyone selling cuttings unless they have a propagation licence. Honeyberry varieties such as Berry Blue™ and Blue Belle™, introduced by One Green World and sold by other nurseries, are trade marked. As I understand it, OGW did this as part of an agreement with the Russian breeders who provided them with the plants. A royalty fee on sales would go back to the Russian breeders. The haskap varieties such as Borealis, Tundra, and the Indigo series were developed by the University of Saskatchewan. In 2009, Haskap Canada attempted to trademark the term ‘Haskap’ but was turned down by the Canadian government. Nonetheless, it has propagation agreements in place with companies who produce their plants and receive a royalty on plants propagated. I have seen some sellers include on their invoice that the buyer agrees not to propagate the plants they purchase.

There are a number of Haskap plant sellers in the United States but as far as I know only Honeyberry USA sells all of the University of Saskatchewan varieties.

I love this blog and wanted to share my new blog dedicated to haskap’s and permaculture. I just rooted some haskap cuttings and will be sharing my stories with pictures. My blog can be seen at http://haskaps.blogspot.com/

Hi,
I think to plant L. Kamtschatica in my litlle garden, but I have L. heckrotti there already. I wondering now, if they will cross pollinate each other? I like berries very much. I know that I need a proper pollinator too, but it is not that easy in Norway. The purchaser has no information about variety either. Thanks for any help.

Hello,
I planted 3 edible honeysuckles (Lonicera caerulea Atut, Duet, and Singelosca) about 5 or 6 years ago. They are alive but not exactly thriving, still very small. I probably didn’t give them enough water the first years, and as I clear other growth from around the stems I notice that there are a lot of fine roots visible either on or above the surface. I am guessing therefore that I also did not plant them deeply enough? Would it be better at this point to dig them up and replant a little lower, or just add a thick layer of compost on the surface?

I would suggest digging them up and washing all of the soil from the roots to determine whether or not the roots are circling and whether they are twisted and constricting growth. Prune any problem roots. Dust the roots with Myke and replant slightly below where the roots are showing. Mulch with shredded tree bark. Haskap/honeysuckle do not like competition from grass or weeds because their roots are quite shallow. THe mulch will suppress competition, retain moisture and slowly decompose to improve the soil. Replenish mulch every few years.

Hello, (sorry for my english, I speakers french). I would like to make a honeysuckle (haskap) hedge on my land. I have 35 feet long to make the hedge. I do not find clear information of what space I need to distance each plant. Often I see 0.75 to one meter between each plan of haskaps but this information is for farmers. I am not à farmer but my plan it’s to be able to eat haskaps yes but also that the hedge will be beautiful on the ground without leaving any space between each. If I put the haskaps at a distance of 0.5 meters each, is it too close? Will they grow well? What do you suggest to me? I will plant mainly Aurora, but also a Blueberry that I thought I put in the center and 2 tundra that I thought put at the end of the hedge or in front of the house may be. At first I was thinking of mixing Tundra with the Aurora but I realized that they do not have the same port, Aurora and Blueberry are dressed and Tundra is falling (leaves looks AT the ground). Then that would be weird for a hedge Toundra and Aurora, right? But if I put 2 Tundra in the end of the hedge would that be nice? What advice do you have also please to fertilize haskaps the day of plantation? Thank you very much, also if you can tell me how fast haskaps growers are growing. The ones that I bought have 2 years old and make 12 to 18 inches. The hardiness zone where I live is 5a and the soil at a pH of about 7 or 6.5, non-edible honeysuckle grew before the same place without problem. Thank you in advance for your help! 🙂

A mature bush is about .9 metres wide so planting at less than half that distance would have the bushes form a hedge. They will grow OK but you might not get as much fruit since there won’t be as much light because of the closeness of the plants. For good pollination, I would suggest a Berry Blue in the middle and 1 half way between the middle and each end for a total of three Berry Blue pollinators. I think that Aurora is a much sweeter and larger berry that Tundra so I would not include any Tundra unless you want genetic diversity.

Thanks a lot for your help EBH! Finally, I find that my BerryBlue askap seems more different than my others askap, the stems have a different colloration and the foliage is less provided so it looks less healthy, I do not know if it’s normal. So I decided to buy Honeybee for the pollinisation, they look very healthy 🙂 But they have 3 years old and my Aurora, Tundra and Berryblue have 2 years old. I found a single Aurora of 3 years old. Is it okay to put different age haskaps together for the hedge? They will have reached the same size when they are all 5 years old and older that’s right?

Strangely I ended up with a problem of aphids but only with my two Tundra haskap. Brown ants carry black aphids on them. They are not interested in other kinds of haskap. I hesitate to keep Tundra because of this problem. On the other haskap I observed only 2 tiny black caterpillars with a white band on the side, they were hidden in a thin cocoon, but that’s not look a probleme. Are black aphids a common problem for Tundra? And are we treating the hakap to remove them as with other plants? (soap spray) I think to either isolate them in my back yard so that the aphids do not risk going on my other haskaps. until now I have removed the aphids manually.

So I think I will put 3 Honeybee of 3 years in the hedge placed as you advised me for pollination. The berryblue I think to plant it at first, stuck on the house, so it will be less visible 😉 but clearly visible for the bumblebees in the nest just above in the roof cornice.

Yes they are BumbleBee with big round belly 🙂 Bombus Impatiens I think.

Unfortunately, on Sunday, they have been attacked by a small group of aggressive swaps. A Bumble bee chased them away and another one standing guard to blocking the entrance all day. The following days, I did not see Bumble Bees and swaps… I wish BumbleBee have survived.

Brown birds (the same who ate the red berries of my old Honeysuckles) have spotted my haskaps and began to eat the berries. I would like to protect them quickly. At the garden store there was only the brand Quest Plastic nets. 7×45 or 14×45 black. Is it a good choice or you recommend something else?

I have two haskaps which were planted by workers for only a few days but I find that they have put both too close to the street… The winter snow truck will probably throw the snow from the street above then I think that’s not a good location for them. Did they will bad react if I change the place immediately, stress? When I’d be better to relocate? Thanks a lot for your help! 🙂

Hello, no I did not see cedar waxwings, it was mostly American Robins and Common Starling. They did not like the presence of the plastic nets and quickly abandoned my land. Only a very small bird managed to sneak underneath, it looked like a Savannah Sparrow. When he realized he could not go out he was screaming and panicked as if he was asking for help from his big family in the maple tree nearby. I took him out and they never came back. After a great first harvest of delicious haskaps berries, my Aurora, especially the youngest plants started to be in bad shape with brown leaves. Their growth has also stopped. I thought they was suffering because there is a lot of sun this summer, humidity and it’s not raining much.. Although we water the soil I imagine that the rain is always better with nitrogen etc. Then the problem was spread on the largest Aurora and then the Honeybee and white appeared on the leaves plants, powdery mildew I think . I would like your opinion please and the best method of treatment. Black soap, garlic, or suffers? They worry me .. I sent you photos by email. My Tundra on the back ground are doing very well. No insect attack or disease. After I planted them some time ago, all the aphids disappeared. Can be an insect friend who did the the work 😉 Thanks again for your help!